Behavior question

[Marc4]

Sorry for posting so much recently but I much prefer advice and opinions from actual people vs googling things because googling turns up so much incorrect info. Ive had my boy for a week today.

I'm wondering about black bearding. Ive read they might do it when unhappy or excited is that correct? I let my boy out to walk around and he cruises around the floor checking everything out but I noticed his beard turned black so after a short time I put him back in his tank. He ate a few bites of salad then started rubbing his face on thr glass and climbing up the side. I thought maybe he wanted back out so I let him out again for a little while (he hadnt pooped yet so I was afraid to have him out to long) When I put him back after a while his beard was jet black from neck to jaw line, the darkest ive ever seen it and he was again clawing at the glass and rubbing his face on it. It took him quite a while to calm down and go to his basking spot. Im trying to understand his behavior better. I dont want to stress him out since Ive only had him for a week but if he enjoys being out and walking around I will take him out more often.

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[BeardedHippy]

He is still unsure of his new surroundings and you, in a week or 2 you will start seeing that sort of behaviour less and less.If he was really pissed his beard would puff out and he would be hissing at you (its rare though, they have to be really spooked to do that). Get used to the glass surfing, they all do it. I dont think they can actually see the glass, so they just keep going for it lol. They have a lot of quirky behaviourisms that will leave you scratching your head and change the way they act sometimes in a blink, what they have done normally for months they suddenly wont entertain anymore. It can be frustrating, my male suddenly wouldnt eat dubias anymore and the female who was quite picky before with food, will now eat like there is no tomorrow. Keeps things interesting trying to figure them out I guess lol
If you have any question do not hesitate to ask, thats what this site is here for and the members here are more than happy to help if they can.

 

[Marc4]

He is still unsure of his new surroundings and you, in a week or 2 you will start seeing that sort of behaviour less and less.If he was really pissed his beard would puff out and he would be hissing at you (its rare though, they have to be really spooked to do that). Get used to the glass surfing, they all do it. I dont think they can actually see the glass, so they just keep going for it lol. They have a lot of quirky behaviourisms that will leave you scratching your head and change the way they act sometimes in a blink, what they have done normally for months they suddenly wont entertain anymore. It can be frustrating, my male suddenly wouldnt eat dubias anymore and the female who was quite picky before with food, will now eat like there is no tomorrow. Keeps things interesting trying to figure them out I guess lol
If you have any question do not hesitate to ask, thats what this site is here for and the members here are more than happy to help if they can.

Thank you! Looks like im in for a challenge with him then. Ive been a dog/cat/horse type person until last year when I got my 3 torts. They were easy to figure out too. Hopefully Jagger goes easy on me with the behavior flopping since hes my first beardie, or you'll be seeing lots more posts from me.
And thank you for taking the time to reply. I really appreciate it!

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[Hdrydr31]

Yea he's still new and figuring things out.. My males will really surf when they need to poop as they refuse to do it in their tanks (I started them from the beginning to go in the sink) so he may need to poop, may want to keep exploring, it is spring/summer and that's mating time, boys surf ALOT (patsyb) her boy surfed like it seemed 24/7 but it finally calmed down in year 3 lol So some will do it alot some hardly at all. My younger male rarely does it. Reflections are big their eyesight is VERY good at distances so if he's doing it alot look around from his perspective and see if he's seeing himself somewhere... My 2yr is in the tank above my 1 yr old and he can see Cooper in the tank below in the TV!! so I put a piece of cardboard in front of his tank...

 

[Marc4]

Yea he's still new and figuring things out.. My males will really surf when they need to poop as they refuse to do it in their tanks (I started them from the beginning to go in the sink) so he may need to poop, may want to keep exploring, it is spring/summer and that's mating time, boys surf ALOT (patsyb) her boy surfed like it seemed 24/7 but it finally calmed down in year 3 lol So some will do it alot some hardly at all. My younger male rarely does it. Reflections are big their eyesight is VERY good at distances so if he's doing it alot look around from his perspective and see if he's seeing himself somewhere... My 2yr is in the tank above my 1 yr old and he can see Cooper in the tank below in the TV!! so I put a piece of cardboard in front of his tank...

I dont its poop related. Hes always gone in his tank (got him from a neighbor) and now today hes doing the same as yesterday. The surfing and black bearding start as soom as I put him away after letting him walk around my house. I had him out for a short time only holding him and he was fine to be put away but when I let him walk around and explore he starts surfing, black bearding and head bobbing as soon as I put him back. He was also much braver today in exploring. He was staying near walls and under stuff yesterday in the room his tank is in but today he walked right across the room to the kitchen and headed to my back door to look around outside (we got a step stool for him to sit on to see out and he was content to just sit there looking around outside)

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[PatsyB]

We were just discussing the black beard the other day. That is one of the most misunderstood dragon things. They can black beard because they are horny, because something hurts them or because you are wearing a blue hat. Sounds like he might just be finding his place. If he does it when he's out of the tank, try to figure out if there is something that might cause stress. Maybe he doesn't like one of the other animals.

I have a girl that will black beard when she wants to be let out to poop. She will also black beard when something hurts her. The other night her beard went completely dark which told us that something was wrong. I noticed a tiny bubble coming out of her nostril. We retraced her day and realized that she must have aspirated some water when I gave her a bath that morning. All got fixed, patted whatever was left out of her lungs and gave her some snuggles. What it all means is that you just have to learn their habits. They are much different than cats and dogs so everything they do is foreign, but eventually you learn their little idiosyncrasies and learn what is right and wrong for them.

 

[Marc4]

We were just discussing the black beard the other day. That is one of the most misunderstood dragon things. They can black beard because they are horny, because something hurts them or because you are wearing a blue hat. Sounds like he might just be finding his place. If he does it when he's out of the tank, try to figure out if there is something that might cause stress. Maybe he doesn't like one of the other animals.

I have a girl that will black beard when she wants to be let out to poop. She will also black beard when something hurts her. The other night her beard went completely dark which told us that something was wrong. I noticed a tiny bubble coming out of her nostril. We retraced her day and realized that she must have aspirated some water when I gave her a bath that morning. All got fixed, patted whatever was left out of her lungs and gave her some snuggles. What it all means is that you just have to learn their habits. They are much different than cats and dogs so everything they do is foreign, but eventually you learn their little idiosyncrasies and learn what is right and wrong for them.

It appears that the black beard in this case was him not being ready to be put away lol. I let him out for a good hour later on yesterday until he stopped running around checking stuff out and when I put him away there was no black beard and no glass surfing. And then before bed I took him out and he laid on my chest for a long time just content to rest there (until he saw himself on my phone as I was trying to get a picture) Definitely feel like we made some good progress yesterday! He also spent an hour watching my boys play their Xbox which is in the room he is in. He sat right up in the front corner of his tank closest to them, arm resting on a rock, watching them. Once they left he got up and moved too.

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